The Auburn Hills store was one of Kmart's Mini Super Kmart concept stores. These were opened in Big Kmart stores with no addition done to the store. Other sections of these stores were shrunken so groceries could fit in. Some other examples of these are on my closed Super Kmart location lists for Arkansas and Alaska. Another Supercenter experiment was adding on to existing Big Kmart stores to create a normal sized Supercenter. Some of these remain in operation, but no Supercenter stores opened in Big Kmart Stores with no addition remain as Super Kmart. Only 26 Super Kmarts remain open.

I believe that the Bloomfield Hills Super Kmart was converted to a regular Kmart in 2009. I found an article from The Oakland Press from the grand opening of the Sears Outlet, which happened on October 24, 2009. You can read the article here: http://www.theoaklandpress.com/articles/2009/10/21/business/doc4aded87780a97016020946.txt

Also, the Google Street View Images of the store from October 2008 still show it as a Super Kmart, so I think 2009 is about right.

This website has some pictures of the front of the Bloomfield Hills Super Kmart after the conversion and addition of Sears Outlet: http://bloomfield-mi.patch.com/listings/kmart-252

According to this website: http://www.angelfire.com/mi4/cactusbob2k2/kmart.html there was a Super Kmart Center planned for West Branch, MI that was never built. It was supposed to be located somewhere along Cook Rd. North of the Interstate 75 interchange and south of Refinery Rd. I don't know when these plans were floating around, but this store would have most likely replaced the Big Kmart in town that was built in what looks like the late 80's (the Google Streetview imagery is grainy and the store is set back far from the road)that replaced a much older Kmart two buildings up the road (now Tractor Supply Company). A Wal-Mart Supercenter was later built in the same general area that the Super Kmart was planned to be built in.

I found that the search words "Proposed Super Kmart" bring up a bunch of planned sites I was unable to track down in the past. It even mentions some plans shot down by residents! Thank you for sending information on this planned store. I actually combed through that exact article in the past, but missed that part!

I found that the search words "Proposed Super Kmart" bring up a bunch of planned sites I was unable to track down in the past. It even mentions some plans shot down by residents! Thank you for sending information on this planned store. I actually combed through that exact article in the past, but missed that part!

Wow, I never thought to try that. I searched "Proposed Super Kmart" myself and put together a list of 9 planned Super Kmart locations and other information I found on them in Chicago, IL (2), Bel Air, MD, Hampton, VA, Newington, CT, Honolulu, HI, Westlake, OH, Latrobe, PA, and Ventura, CA. I can post the list here if you would like it.

I already went through the search results and found those. I have tracked down about 15 planned stores(including the 9 you listed above)and I am working on adding more that I am finding now to the map.

I probably should have looked at the map first before I made that list! But the Hampton, VA store I mentioned above wasn't the one you were probably thinking of (The one that was partially built and then torn down for a BJ's). This is another unbuilt planned Super Kmart in Hampton:

SW Corner of W. Mercury Blvd. and Power Plant Parkway, Hampton, VA – Plans for this store came out in early 2000 and it was supposed to open in fall of 2001. It was supposed to be 140,000 sq. ft. and replace the dilapidated and mostly vacant Mercury Plaza that had partially burnt down. Later that year, due to legal reasons, plans for this store fell through and Kmart instead started to build their new Super Kmart Center across the street in the new Power Plant Shopping Center in 2001. That store would end up never opening due to the bankruptcy in early 2002. The Mercury Plaza site has since been redeveloped with a Burlington Coat Factory and room for more new stores.

You are right! I did overlook that site, I automatically assumed they were talking about the other nearby site. I know of a few more planned sites in Michigan and Tennessee as well as those two 1990s Kmarts you pointed out in Pennsylvania and New York that I have to add to the map. I have a feeling more were supposed to open in PA, NY, CA, HI, FL, MN, MI, OH, IL, WI, and MO (I found several planned sites in St. Louis area that were Kmart stores with plans to be expanded).

The Utica Sam's was not the Super K. That was a Pace, IIRC. (Center opened in '93 with Borders, KM, Pace, Builder's Square, and Officemax, among others- a true K Mart Plaza.) The Super K faced west, north of Officemax. It was one of those regular-to-super conversions that did not add square footage.

There's a whole series of Sam's with different store numbers that AFAIK indicate former Paces. I haven't read the location directory in my Wal*Mart road atlas in a while, but I believe they were in the 6600s. Sam's was barely in SE MI at all (just Southgate, I think and maybe one more) before they got the Paces.

The Super Kmart in Auburn Hills (store # 4794) first opened as Kmart in November of 1991. This was a beautiful store, and it was huge for a Kmart. All the departments had expanded assortments (Team Sports clothing ran most of the left hand side of the store) and this store was featured on TV commercials.....Joe Antonini was shown walking through the store, talking about it's expanded departments and "wider, brighter aisles". This was a showcase store for the company. When it opened, it's sales volume was so huge that an expansion had to be built on the store (you can see it on the left hand side of the store photo) as additional stockroom space to accomadate the freight needed for the sales volume. In 2001 this store converted to a Super Kmart, This was one of a group of conversion stores that were called "in-the-box" Super Ks. They did not add onto the store but shrunk existing departments and reduced stockroom space to add the Grocery and Fresh departments. The same was done with Utica and Bloomfield Hills but Auburn Hills was the largest of the 3. The original entrance was closed and re-opened more to the center of the store; checkouts were shifted as well as Customer Service area and cash office relocated to the front wall. The store also had a gas station which was one of the highest volume gas stations in Michigan. The store was absolutely beautiful.......the floor was carpeted in clothing and footwear departments. The reason this store closed during the bankruptcy was due to the ridiculously high rent......it was not lack of sales and was actually producing profit, despite selling gas at $0.86 a gallon! Those were the days.....

And possibly due to the fact that it was now facing competition from the Meijer and Target that had opened just up Joslyn near Great Lakes Crossing as well as from the since-relocated Walmart further south closer to the Silverdome?

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